Mc tool wrote:Apparently Italy isn't in much better condition .... finance wise
It's not so.
The Italy's problem is the national debit that's too high.
Really, it is not higher than the USA and Greece one (proportionally to the size of respective economies, because the amount of the debit is measured in comparison with the size of the economy).
At this moment, and from some time, the Italy's debit is under speculative attacks, so there are many sales of Italy's treasury bonds.
In fact, many people is "betting" about a default of the Italian economy.
When a such thing happens, the gain of the treasury bonds grows up, exactly as the risk of any bet.
When you bet on a horse or on a football team, your gain is inversely proportional to the strength of the horse or the team.
So, if your team (or your horse) is weak, the gain is higher in case of win.
The gain of Italian bonds is growing up because of that attack.
Really, a such thing is happening only from 6 months, not more, when the Italian economy was the same...
The growing of bonds' gain means Italy will have to refund more interests on the bonds.
The risk is Italy could'nt afford that refund if the interests grow too much.
The same debit crisis is in Greece and in USA.
So, nobody thinks USA can really default because its huge economy, even if last summer there was a big problem in USA, too.
Many people thinks Greece can default because of its weak economy.
The Greece can't find the money to refund the treasury bonds without international loans (which need to be refunded, too).
So, someone told Greece needs to sell the Parthenon etc.
For sure, Italy is not strong like USA, but not weak as Greece.
Italy is the 7° or 8° economy in the world, we have industry and commerce, so there will be enough money for the refunds.
Sorry for the prolixity...
Ciao
